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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

Happy Trails

Lame development of the week: GA QB Blake Sims, publicly favoring Michigan and Georgia and planning a Michigan trip in the near future, committed to Alabama over the weekend. Sims was Michigan's best shot for a high-profile second quarterback commit in the near future. Not a huge deal with Gardner aboard.

Meanwhile, CA RB Brennan Clay says nice things to Michigan folk but in more neutral settings he expresses a clear preference for the West Coast. The latest is an "almost commitment" to Oregon. He lists M, plans a trip, and was a teammate of Forcier, so he remains on the board but I'd be super surprised to see anything come of it.

Happy Trails, High School Edition

Two transfers of interest:

OH S LaTwan Anderson, currently favoring M, MSU, and WVU, is leaving St. Ed's because he "didn't like it real well over there" according to his father. Dreaded Glenville is the potential destination.

FL WR Ricardo Miller is probably now MI WR Ricardo Miller, as his transfer to Huron is official. Miller plans to enroll early, as well.

You, Too, Can Go To Michigan, 5'4" AP Chemistry Student

Michigan has been offering and offering and offering and offering and offering; these days instead of having some kid say he'd like to go to Michigan and adding them to the board and waiting for an offer 90% of the guys who show up on the board do so because they say Michigan has an offer for them. I don't buy it. This is the last straw:

Michigan had a busy day on Thursday - offering five DeMatha [MD] football players. Michael Cooley, Lorenzo Waters, Ari Kouandjio, Marcus Coker and Jeff Knox all received offers from the Wolverines.

What is probably happening here: Michigan is chucking conditional offers out to all these kids with the clear implication that you are here on the pecking list and we will accept a commit from you in certain circumstances. In Devin Gardner's case those circumstances are "you do not shoot a hobo." In the case of random Maryland guy without Rivals profile those circumstances are probably "your father donates one million dollars moohahahaha /evil." (Or in reality: several other kids commit elsewhere first.)

Anyway, kid gets a warm fuzzy, kid gets to report an offer, Michigan can work their mojo, and (hopefully) no one hops on Marcus Lattimore's scholarship. Snake oil picture goes here.

You'll note that the reported offers locally are far more circumspect: MI DT Jonathan Hankins doesn't have one, nor did Austin Gray before he committed to Iowa. Anyone who's been to campus and is a threat to drop as soon as his sweaty mitts get a letter is being evaluated carefully. Random kids who haven't thought about Michigan for two seconds and aren't going to commit without a visit (and if they do won't stick to that commitment) get offers like candy.

DE Avalanche Aieee

No position has seen the offer avalanche more than defensive end. You can see four new additions above to just one removal. The board now shows fifteen offers to various folks, among them OH DE Jibreel Black…

Black estimated his scholarship offer total stands at 18. It includes Wisconsin, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Purdue, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Kentucky, South Carolina and a host of MAC schools such as Miami (Ohio), Ball State and Ohio University.

"I haven't started to narrow my list down yet," Black said. "I've just been focusing on our season."

…who's 6'2", 260, and may be a DT at the next level, which would be good since Michigan 1) needs DTs and 2) can't find anyone to offer at the spot. There had been reports that Michigan had offered PA DE Dakota Royer, but that same article doesn't mention Michigan in its Royer blurb. He's visiting many places, none of them Michigan, and is bumped down to red.

The guy most likely to drop soon is OH DE Marcus Rush, who's declared Michigan his leader and is coming back for a second official visit in less than a month. That bodes well. Rush is an OLB/DE sort destined for the spinner and my god we need a cooler name for that.

More Munchie

The most important recruit in the history of the universe since Barkevious Mingo has declared Michigan his leader over a vast pack of the country's finest programs:

Athletic signal-caller Munchie Legaux has Michigan as his current leader, ESPN affiliate Web site InsideTheU.com reports. In addition to the Maize and Blue, Legaux's holding scholarship offers from Virginia, Tulane, Louisiana Tech and Florida International.

Well, Virginia was good once, I think. No need to fret about Michigan's offer, though. Legaux showed at a local combine and did very well:

The top player at quarterback was clearly Munchie Legaux of Edna Karr. There were some questions about him coming into this combine about his ability to stick at quarterback on the college level, but he answered everyone of them.

Legaux made all the throws – from the three step drop to the seven step drop to the quick slant to the fly route. He showed touch, arm strength, nice footwork, and he threw a nice spiral. He is thin and will need to add weight to compete on the next level, but he showed on Sunday that his future position is going to be under center. He was outstanding all afternoon when he knew a lot of eyes were on him.

He's also in the Rivals 250, so chances are he picks up some more impressive offers soon. Unfortunately, chances are his leaderboard changes then, too: it doesn't mean much to be leading that motley crew of midmajors—by which I mean "teams that should drop to I-AA"—and Virginia. If (probably when) SEC teams come calling the bet here is that Michigan slips into a leading pack and is eventually discarded.

Lattimore has 25 offers with the latest from Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin. His top-10 list includes Clemson, South Carolina, Auburn, Duke, Georgia, Florida State, LSU, Maryland, Michigan and North Carolina.

However, he says revisions could be made as new offers come in. “Those 10 schools will be my focus, but I’ve got to look at Penn State now,” Lattimore said. “That’s tradition there.”

Lattimore will take official visits to Penn State on Nov. 7 and Michigan on Nov. 21.

50-50 those officials actually come off. As of now, though, Michigan is definitely in the running. This is the second time Lattimore's asserted he'll take an official, so it's true until it isn't.

Love The Drake

Drake (5-9, 175), a Michigan fan since he was 5, rushed for 429 yards and three touchdowns in 2008 while splitting time in the backfield with James White. Drake, who averaged 7.8 yards per carry, chose Michigan over Georgia, Kansas, Texas and Boise State.

"I've always loved Michigan. I'm really ready to play against the Buckeyes," Drake said, referring to Michigan's top rival, Ohio State. "Playing Big 10 football is going to be really interesting. I think I'll be all right, because Michigan's offense is like Skyline's. We have the same plays."

Wouldn't get too hyped about the "chose Michigan over" section since I believe that's interest, not offers. Reinforcement for the Skyline-M offense conjunction, too.

The spread brings an interesting dynamic in recruiting: NFL coaches aren't big fans, but in high school the offense is even more ubiquitous than it is in college. Expect a lot of post hoc ergo propter hoc justifications from kids in the future. I committed to spread offense: I know all the plays. I committed to pro-style offense: I want to make the league. In reality kids are choosing based on academics. Never forget this.

Etc.: FL S Marvin Robinsoncoming up for the spring game. Will he commit? Eh, I'm betting he waits until football season is over because of his batty Buckeye head coach.

I'll admit no first hand info on this subject so I submit this to the experts. What is the deal with the coaches influence on Marvin Robinson's decision?? This all seems silly. I understand that if there is a marginal kid at Cass Tech Wilcher has an in with the coaches to get the kid a look he may not normally get, I understand if the kid is conflicted the coach could persuade him toward a school he knows about and likes. What I don't understand is why a kid in Florida who has a coach who likes Ohio St. helps in delaying a Mich commitment?? Robinson is a high profile recruit that is being recruited by all the top schools, how his coaches love for the Buckeyes effects anything seems silly. If the kid likes a school and coaches what is the problem. It seems like local pressure to stay home would be more of a factor then some Bucknut coaching him. Is he going to bench the kid if he selects Michigan??

TomVH or Other Brian reported in one of the threads on the mgoboard yesterday that his coach last year threatened to bench him if he committed to M (he visited for the State game last year). Dealing with this nonsense means that Robinson would not likely commit until he is out of the clutches of the coach.

His coach is a buckNUT it seems, far beyond what Wilcher or the guy at Southeastern do for M and State respectively.

Seems ridiculous, but in this day and age I guess anything is possible. I would like to see that coach bench his best player. I'm guessing he would have some explaining to do. If he is that nuts I guess it would be best to stay quiet until you can get the hell out of there. If that is indeed the case that man needs to be removed from his position, he is supposed to be looking out for the kids.

FWIW, I have never ever ever heard of a UVA offer to Munchie Legaux until I read that same ESPN blurb. Not Scout, not Rivals, not even in the weekly uber-insider recruiting update they do on Cavs Corner, or even as a "hay guyz wut about this dood sweet name wut r odds with him?!?!?!?!" type of post on the UVA message boards. We spend as much time recruiting Louisiana as we do Zimbabwe. The number of times "Munchie Legaux" and "Virginia" have been mentioned in the same sentence, or even paragraph, up til that point, is zero. I think it's safe to assume UVA isn't actually in the game here.

DeMatha is a high school sports powerhouse. They are consistently top 5, usually top 3. They are equivalent to schools like Mater Dei and Xavier. There is a good chance these guys are all legit and I can guarantee none of them donated any money for offers. They send double digit players to D1 schools on scholarships for as long as I can remember. They are also in the same league as Jelani Jenkins (sp) was so it's a high caliber league.

I know a lot of you are hoping for Rich Rod to turn Michigan into a machine with elite specimens for players, but be careful what you wish for...

"Playing Big 10 football is going to be really interesting. I think I'll be all right, because Michigan's offense is like Skynet's. We have the same plays."

Oh great, so now that RR is here at UM, he is trying to implement an offense that utilizes robots? And people think that this will make Big 10 football more exciting? OSU fans used to charge that Michigan needed Ohio recruits to win, but now we can't even do well with humans. And it will be all fine and dandy until the offense turns on all of us and attempts to destroy mankind. Count me out.